


Black Lips

by Smokeycut



Series: Brucetober [2]
Category: Batman - Fandom
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Lunch date, coming home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-11
Updated: 2017-08-11
Packaged: 2018-12-13 22:02:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11769273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Smokeycut/pseuds/Smokeycut
Summary: Victoria and Bruce have their first official date since her return to Gotham.





	Black Lips

"This is the place," Bruce said to himself as he stepped out of his car and circled around it, until he stood on the sidewalk. His eyes adjusted to the daylight and he wished that they had agreed on a later hour of the day. Sometime reasonable, like midnight. That was the perfect time for lunch. At the very least, it would be cooler than this. Gotham's summers were sweltering. 

He pulled the passenger side door open and took his date's hand as she stepped out of the car. The sunlight made the white streak in her black hair stand out more than usual, and the pair quickly caught the attention of those around them. Everyone in Gotham recognized Bruce Wayne, and the fact that none of them recognized his girlfriend made them stare even more. She certainly didn't mind the attention, nor did she seem to mind the summer heat, as she still wore her typical black dress and dark makeup. 

"Aren't you hot in that?" Bruce asked quietly, wishing that people would just ignore them. He was used to the attention, but he felt uneasy about the spotlight it would put on Victoria.

"Darling, I'm _always_ hot," she teased. "Come on then, let's check it out, shall we?" 

He wrapped his arm around her waist and walked her inside of the small restaurant they had arrived at, and was thankful for the air conditioning inside. It was a rather cramped building, with only a counter for sandwiches to be prepared and sold, along with a few booths for people to eat at. There was little room for anything else to be done, but the couple didn't have plans to stick around for long. 

"I'm not surprised Kate recommended this place," Bruce whispered. "She always finds herself drawn to these little holes in the wall."

"There's a joke about her and other kinds of holes in there somewhere, you know," Victoria joked, actually managing to get Bruce to smile. It was far easier to do that when he was out of his costume, but it didn't feel quite as rewarding.

They stepped up to the counter, where a pasty faced teenager was waiting, doing his best, and failing miserably, to look happy about working on a Saturday. He went through the usual welcoming spiel and asked what they'd like to eat. Victoria gestured for Bruce to go first, and so he quickly glanced over his options before beginning his order.

"Footlong, Whole wheat, turkey, roast beef, ham, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, mayo, hot sauce." He stared silently as the teenager assembled his sandwich. The poor soul behind the counter tried to rush to keep up with Bruce's fast paced order, and was forced to ask Bruce to repeat himself several times. When he finished putting on the hot sauce, Bruce stopped him.

"That's not enough. I'm going to need more hot sauce," he requested.

"Oh, okay. Sorry about that," the employee responded, adding a few more squirts before Bruce cut in again.

"More. Come on, I need enough to actually taste it."

"Uh, okay?" The teen added even more, taking note of the fact that he had now gone through three times as much hot sauce as most people needed.

"Hh. I don't think you understand what I'm saying. I want you to use as much hot sauce as you are capable of putting on my sandwich. I want this to hurt me. I won't sue, so long as this causes me physical pain to eat. I want to regret this choice three weeks from now. Do you understand me?"

The teen poured the rest of the bottle into the sandwich, as well as half of another, as Bruce stared deep into his eyes. When Bruce finally nodded his head in appreciation, the teen stopped. He thought that perhaps, this was the devil in human form, come to test him. Either that or the physical embodiment of reckless entitlement. Regardless, the deed was done, and by the end of the day, someone would be paying for the decision. Most likely Bruce. With the order taken care of, Victoria placed her own.

"I'll have a BLT on rye," she requested. "Thank you," she added, slipping a few bills into the tip jar by the register while Bruce paid for their lunch. They slipped out of the building, sandwiches in hand, and sat on a bench not too far away from the shop. 

Victoria eyed Bruce carefully as he ate, waiting to see how he reacted to the excessive amounts of hot sauce on his sub. To her utter fascination, he didn't even blink. She slowly took a bite of her own sandwich as she studied him, but even with a quarter of the sub finished, he was stone faced. Once half of it was gone, he broke his silence.

"I can hardly taste it..." he muttered to himself, disappointed. Victoria made a mental note to import the hottest peppers she could get a hold of and give them to him on future dates. For science, of course. It was then that Bruce looked to her. "How's yours?" He asked.

"Up to par. I'll have to thank Kate for the recommendation." 

Once they had both finished eating, Victoria sidled up to Bruce and nuzzled the crook of his neck. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and leaned it to kiss her. Their lips met briefly, just barely touching, before meeting again. This time their lips locked, and the outside world fell away. Bruce may not have been too enthused when the date began, but he had to admit he was glad to have come. Being able to catch up with his old friend was nice, but being something more than friends? Obviously that felt nicer. Victoria laid a hand against his chest and broke off the kiss, stifling a laugh at the sight of her lipstick staining Bruce's lips.

When they had finished, and were heading home, Bruce drove silently, though not due to any hostility. It was a comfortable silence, brought about by mutual contentment. Victoria's left hand drifted over towards him and came to a rest on his forearm. They listened to the radio and Victoria gazed out the window at the city she had missed. She was glad to be back home after all these years, and back in familiar company. Originally, she had just wanted to catch up with Batman, but then it turned into something more serious, long held feelings finally coming to the surface. Neither of them could ignore it, and so he asked her to be with him, not just in that life, but in this one as well. They had kept it to themselves for a few weeks, but Bruce didn't want to hide her from the world. He wanted people to see her the way he did, and she was happy to oblige. 

"It's nice to be home," Victoria mused, looking over at Bruce with a gentle smile.

"It's nice to have you back," he said warmly. It was moments like these, she noticed, that he was at his most genuine. When nobody was around but those who knew him in both of his identities. He wasn't afraid to smile, or to speak his mind. He was still a reserved and introverted person, that never changed, but he was more authentic in those moments. He was at his most beautiful.


End file.
